Harvey Greenspan, Professor Emeritus of Applied Mathematics, dies at 93

Published: April 3, 2026

Harvey Philip Greenspan, Professor Emeritus of Applied Mathematics at MIT, passed away on March 20, 2026 at the age of 93. Harvey served on the MIT faculty in our department for 42 years until his retirement in 2002, and was a preeminent applied mathematician.

Harvey Greenspan was born in East New York, Brooklyn, on February 22, 1933. He was educated in the New York City public schools and earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics and physics from the City College of New York in 1953. He was awarded a fellowship to pursue his graduate studies at Harvard University where he received both his master’s degree and PhD in Applied Mathematics and Engineering. He was appointed Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University, a position he held from 1957 to 1960. In 1960, he was hired as Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics at MIT and was promoted to full Professor in 1964. He remained at MIT until his retirement in 2002.

Harvey Greenspan was a renowned physical applied mathematician, both experimentalist and theoretician, studying many aspects of fluid dynamics. In 1968 he published “The Theory of Rotating Fluids” as part of the Cambridge Monographs on Mechanics and Applied Mathematics. With a few colleagues, he was instrumental in the development of Applied Mathematics at MIT, making it a rather unique mathematics department in the US with both pure and applied mathematics in the same department. He served as Chair of the Applied Mathematics Committee from 1965-75 and 1983-85. In 1973, he co-authored “Calculus, an Introduction to Applied Mathematics” with colleague David Benney. He had a varied career both at MIT and beyond; he traveled widely in the United States and Europe as an expert consultant.

Greenspan became a Member of the American Academy of Sciences in 1968. He was appointed Visiting Professor and Fairchild Scholar at Caltech in 1987. In 1991, he received an Honorary Doctorate from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

During his retirement, Harvey Greenspan pursued his interest in collecting, researching, and restoring antique scientific instruments, primarily from the 19th and early 20th centuries. His collection eventually grew to over 300 items.

He is survived by his wife Miriam, their two daughters Elizabeth Greenspan and Judith Greenspan, their sons-in-law Jeffrey Hurwit and Thomas Berman, four grandchildren, other family members and several old friends.